


the physics of balance

by xiuchens



Series: a study of love & washing machines [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, lapslock, nerdy fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-13 11:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11184495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xiuchens/pseuds/xiuchens
Summary: baekhyun likes to do his laundry at night when it's mostly quiet but he doesn't mind that jongdae now keeps him company, not when he's so easy to talk to.





	the physics of balance

**Author's Note:**

> always be kind with your comments :)
> 
> thank you ani for the support and ideas, i'm glad you enjoyed this! you're the best<3

washing clothes used to be a dreadful time for baekhyun, he was never good at staying in one spot watching while others, even if it’s a machine, do all the work. he got bored really fast since usually no one in his building used the old laundry room and even if they did they mostly did it in the mornings and not late at night like him. he doesn’t mind the silence though, since there’s no one in his building he would even want to talk to.

one night he’s finishing folding his now washed and dried clothes when the door opens and in enters a short guy, about his age, who looks even tinier than baekhyun does. the guy even has small hands, baekhyun notices for some reason, as he holds the door open while trying to pull a huge basket of clothes that goes up to his waist inside. they exchange greetings and huge basket guy says he just moved in so it’s his first time using this room. baekhyun doesn’t remember asking but he doesn’t mind that bit of information anyway.

over the next month they meet four other times in the laundry room, always around 11pm, baekhyun’s most favoured washing and drying hours. huge basket guy keeps showing up earlier each time, and when they meet next it’s inside the elevator, going down to their shared laundry room. baekhyun doesn’t recall if he ever did this much laundry before or if he just keeps going down there more and more just so he could see that guy again.

by their seventh meeting baekhyun already knows huge basket guy (who now owns a smaller pink basket) is actually called jongdae and that he’s a bartender in a fancy bar that would cost baekhyun’s monthly payment just to get in, without actually drinking anything. he also likes music and watches a lot of movies during his nights off. and he also likes doing laundry during the night because it’s quieter and it’s when he’s the most awake, being used to a job like his and all.

baekhyun and jongdae only ever meet while doing laundry, or sometimes while going up or down the elevators when baekhyun is coming home from work and jongdae is leaving for his. baekhyun wishes it was different because it’s jongdae’s face he keeps seeing at night when he touches himself.

it’s easy to talk with jongdae about everything and nothing. the weather, the crazy old neighbor who keeps yelling at kids who are playing across the street, the hot delivery guy from the chinese restaurant. jongdae talks a lot but is also a good listener and baekhyun feels like they should spend more time together since they’re not exactly friends but also definitely not strangers. it’s all within a very gray area of relationships and he wants this to change.

sometimes jongdae teases him and baekhyun teases back. a silk underwear with minions pattern finds its way into baekhyun’s dirty laundry and jongdae falls down while having a laughing fit because he strongly feels like adults shouldn’t wear that. it doesn’t even help that baekhyun tries to explain they belong to his roommate chanyeol because jongdae is still laughing. in revenge baekhyun makes fun of jongdae’s extremely small cottom socks that match his small feet. “how do you even manage to balance yourself when your feet are tiny and your ass is this huge?” he says, and then pretends he never saw the blush creeping up jongdae’s cheeks at the ass mention.

 

“do you think anyone ever had sex in this laundry room?” one of them says one night and that prompts a whole discussion over what would be the best machine to have sex on. jongdae says washing because the movements would be wild; baekhyun firmly stands with the dryer because the whole air around it gets warm and his butt gets cold when he’s not wearing clothes. “i could keep your butt warm for you, just admit the washing machine is better,” jongdae says and now baekhyun is the one blushing.

it takes baekhyun exactly three months to man up and ask jongdae out, and he easily accepts. they have dinner, watch a movie at the old theater near their building and end the night making out on jongdae’s apartment. they go on another four dates before officially call each other “boyfriend”, baekhyun’s new favorite word in the world, that he uses for his current favorite person. 

it’s still as easy to talk to jongdae as it ever was and he fits in baekhyun’s life so perfectly it’s almost like he was always there. he gets along with his friends and family, he picks up bagels on his way back from work early morning, just so baekhyun can have something fresh for breakfast, he folds baekhyun’s laundry neatly when they have their laundry room dates and they still tease each other endlessly but now also love each other as much. he smells like baekhyun’s laundry detergent sometimes and baekhyun thinks that’s oddly endearing. almost a year after they start dating, during one of their many lazy sunday mornings in bed after jongdae comes home from a shift he asks baekhyun to move in with him, and baekhyun accepts on one condition.

“you have to tell me the secret to balance your body on your small feet with those thighs and huge perky ass of yours, i need to know!”

jongdae smacks his arm lightly before baekhyun says he’ll move in anyway and they can do the calculations later.

 

(he really attemps to determine jongdae’s center of gravity eventually, while jongdae just says his center of gravity is actually baekhyun. he blushes furiously before throwing himself in jongdae’s arms and throwing him off his balance. jongdae thinks this is a perfect metaphor for their love, both keeping them grounded and throwing them off their feet all at once.)


End file.
